Burgmond45
Inactive Member
YSS Kaiyo-ii
Onsen
09:51
Walter seldom treats himself; if anything, he'd consider coming here to relax in this steamy, warm pool to be the first time he ever gave himself a rewarding experience. Of course, he recalled drinking with Alastair, laughing over the fact a Minkan like Walter himself could find alchohol too carbonated to enjoy. From there, Walter began drifting through memory lane in this relaxing public area, his comet tattoo gently glowing. Blissful and fog-headed, the engineer just looked up at the ceiling absent-mindedly, and closing his eyes.
Another form could be seen skulking through the steam-filled room as Wyatt approached a pool, unsurprisingly enough the towel-clad Marksman hadn't made his way to the onsen before - but he figured it would be a good way to help relieve the tension in his mending bones so here he was. Wyatt lowered himself into heated pool and put his towel up to the side.
The marksman closed his amber eyes and let out a long exhale as he let the feeling overtake him, they shot back open when he felt ripples coming back towards him. Wyatt's eyes fell upon Walter's floating form, much like the other people on he ship Wyatt hadn't had much interaction during the down time but Eden had told him to start changing that and who was he if not somebody who could follow orders. "That tattoo..." he began speaking, noticing the glowing patch of skin, "Does it have meaning or is it purely aesthetic?" Wyatt asked, the attempted social interaction sounded quite awkward as it left his lips but he was trying.
"Hm?" The raven-haired technician opened a sun-orange eye, looking at marksman. With both eyes open in a half-lidded expression, he glanced down at his left pec muscle, and then back to Wyatt. "Yeah, actually. Got this tattoo when I was a teen, still in my days when I was looking to get away from home. It glows in conjunction with how much blood's running through my body, making it brighter as my blood raced faster." Walter's tone as fairly neutral and well-tempered, fitting for a man who's physically strong like himself.
"I kept it around for so long because I didn't wanna give up my dream back then," Walter explained. He felt like he'll need to give Wyatt context, though, since it might not add up right for the marksman.
The aforementioned marksman's brow furrowed a little in confusion, it seemed odd to have it linked to that particular thing and Wyatt felt a little uncomfortable at the fact that two men were in an onsen together - one with blood quickly racing... somewhere in his body - but he thought it best to think about something else. "You spoke of a dream, may I ask what that dream is exactly?" he asked in response, a short and to the point question that didn't skirt around what went through his head, Wyatt scratched the light coating of coppery stubble on his own face as he did so.
"Just to break away and live my own life, rather than having my parents pigeon-hole me into being a patriotic cannonfodder." The latter of the two men didn't mind sharing with Wyatt, given how community showers were like back in Basic Training. "Granted I haven't gotten that new life I wanted, but I'm at least working to not be just another body to throw at the enemy."
Walter brushed his hair back, and sighed, his tattoo dimming further as his blood slowed down, not taking this exchange as awkwardly as Wyatt. "You're Wyatt, right?"
"Jo-" Wyatt paused and tried to adopt a less formal tone, at least it was only one vowel he slipped out this time. "Alder, Wyatt Alder... you are Walter if I'm not mistaken?" he asked in return, eye for an eye and all that.
The engineer/technician nodded. "Walter Hyde's the name. I'm a technician with good engineering experience, and the guy who carries over three thousand grenades on him," he said, chuckling and smiling softly. Being around people like this... Walter isn't a hundred percent sure, but he feels that others have molded him to be more open and relaxed.
"Right, Ayenee - those explosions that rocked the sky were you then I assume?" he asked as a show of faith, Memories of Walter from the power armour bay after they escaped washed into his mind as he put a name to the face.
"Yeah, four grenades per second's a lot when you got two of those things."
The Marksman let out a very small chuckle, he didn't doubt the engie would be good with calculations but these ones had his attention. "I can imagine, standard yield or something special?" he asked, there was a small hint of jealousy as Wyatt realised it took until Kuvexians weaponised a planet for him to fire his gun in service of the Kaiyo-ii.
"They were only fragmentation grenades," Walter said, confirming that it's the standard stuff.* "Had I actually saved on my grenades, I would have done more damage to the sky. Though I only had a little over two hundred at the time."
"Yeah, is sky even the right term for the roof of that shitshow? I hear I missed out on quite a bit once my mindy was shredded..." Wyatt's amber eyes focused on Walter's golden ones as he leant toward the other minkan a bit "What happened down there even?" he asked, genuinely curious about what it must've been like.
"Well, the moment some of you guys started leaving was the moment that everyone just froze. The only way to move was to shoot the sky, but nobody had that firepower except Mark. Aside from that, though? Hardly much of anything." After which, Walter sunk a bit deeper into the steaming pool.
"Honestly Wyatt, there was plenty of stuff I didn't like during that mission. I'd blame it more on the Chusa more than anyone, to be frank with you. I feel she'd be better as an XO more than a CO."
"I agree with that, it went sideways in a snap, not everybody is cut out for that kind of responsibility - myself included - but at least she kept going, I've known a few people who would freeze up and do nothing" Wyatt said as his eyes drifted away and rubbed his calloused hands together with a rough, sandpaper-like sound.
"I wouldn't go so far as to blame her solely, we are all a part to that mechanism - and the mission had some... rather strange things happening behind the scenes..." the marksman's voice trailed off slightly toward the end.of his response.
"Given this is a Neko that we're talking about, I find it hardly impressive," Walter chided back without thinking that over. "I fail to see her as anything beyond someone so shallow and inconsiderate."
"We can pretend that we know how we'd react to any given situation given enough hindsight, but only there in the moment is truth revealed - what's to say you or I could have done any better?" Wyatt asked, the phrasing may have been a little rough but no offense was intended. It didn't matter a few weeks ago whether or not he would be offended by the words but now Wyatt had a faint hope that the intention would be seen rather than the execution.
Walter glanced at Wyatt. "At least I wouldn't just jump to this dimension right after Mission 12, with very little consideration to those who were tied down to Ayenee in some fashion. We weren't given any notification about that."
"... Then again it hardly matters anymore, people are finding their own way to move on and forgive her for physically and mentally scarring certain individuals upon leaving to this version of Kikyo Space." Walter let out a sigh, looking back up to the ceiling. "I can't say I forgive her for that, though. I have trouble letting go of things."
Wyatt had began noticing something about the way that Walter spoke, he spoke about the system they served under almost with the distain of an outsider looking in to scrutinize - opposed to being a cog in that system. It was all probably just the minkan grasping at straws but he would be lying if he pretended it didn't pique his interest a bit.
"A slight sidenote I'll ask you to forgive me for but... where others would say home you have a colder approach when talking about this place - is Yamatai not your home?" the Joto-hei asked, leaning forward in his seat and radiating a dull sense of intrigue
The engineering technician nodded after looking back at Wyatt. "No, I'm not. I am from a entire different dimension full of Neko-Minkan supremacy. I ended up stranded on Ayenee, found work at Fort Miller, and somehow managed to get on this ship without a lot of people being made aware. Not at first, anyways, however it's hard to blend in when your dimensional double also worked on this ship prior to your enlistment."
"Hadn't I made a promise, I would have kept covering it up, whether or not it might kill me." Walter brushed his hair away from his face. He noted that he's getting better at casually bringing up his origins. "I'm from a dimension that some of this crew have already been in before."
"Uh-huh" Was Wyatt's immediate response, maybe someone else would break out in hysterical laughter or cry for some reason but no. Instead he simply said that before rolling the words around in his head a few times - between vampire Nekos, weaponized planets and Mark having some spooky shit going on with himself - it really seemed to be the most tame thing that could still be considered strange on this ship. Still though it fed into the man's pseudo-theory(more of a hunch) that the SAoY had clones of everybody running around, there were at least five known Marks and now there were two Walters - granted one of them claimed he was from a different dimension but still.
"Stepping into the boots of another is never easy..." he started speaking again, that line it home with him more than Wyatt would like to admit. "Especially when it's your own boots but I'd say you're doing a great job, we could use less sheep on this ship."
Walter had to chuckle at that; he can agree that there is definitely sheep here, but he can't truthfully say how many there actually are on this ship. "Fair, fair."
"So speak up when you see an issue, step out of line if the need arises - just don't let it become delinquency, we're not mindless drones and nor are we moody adolescents." Wyatt paused for the briefest of moments as he wondered where all this talk was coming from.
"We're soldiers, and more importantly we are people." The marksman had a slight grin on his face as what Eden had told him finally made sense. he supposed there was something to be said about caring for your crew as much as you hated your enemies.
"That is true... At least, I hope it is. I'd bet Eden would agree with you on that." After letting a moment of silence come to pass, Walter decided to change topics. The technician hadn't told anyone he had bought new custome gear, why not start now?
"Speaking of Eden, she went out with me last week to some place called 'Dawn Station'. Figured I'd be going alone because I just wanted some gauntlets, but she was looking into buying other things as well."
"Gauntlets you say? I recently got some from origin for myself, that's quite kind of her to be buying stuff for the crew" Wyatt responded with, surprised a little that they both had an interest in gauntlets.
"No no, I bought the gauntlets myself; they were cheap enough to where I can afford four pairs of them. But Eden did want to keep me company during the trip, discuss the nature of my kind, buying belts, things like that." Of course if Eden did buy him four pairs of gauntlets, that would have been great. That's more money saved, basically.
"They're basically for utility, versatility, and to be long-lasting at that. They don't have much to them aside from being able to fly, hit really hard, and work like wireless hands. I've been practicing with the gauntlets themselves, both in and out of power armor," Walter explained. "They're made for technician work, but they have good battle applications... Like long-ranged punching."
"Ah my mistake, although it would not surprise me if she had bought them"
"They sound quite handy," the marksman spoke, not even considering the fact he had just made a pun by accident. "My gauntlets hit pretty hard but the main reason I got them is for the guns I had mounted on, I assume you are familiar with the SiZi M38 special duty revolver?"
... Walter got the unintentional pun, and felt compelled to try it himself one day. "No, not at all," he replied.
A fire almost sparked up in the marksman's eyes, finally he had a chance to explain why he loved the gun so much that he had decided to start bringing three with him into battle, "Well, it's 13.5 inches and 2 pounds of anti-armour perfection wrapped up in a coat of metallic purple - it holds a special little place in my heart and has shown to be reliable time after time so... now I have two that can function just from me raising my arms to the target, no need to drop whatever other weapon I'm holding."
Wyatt realised he had been leaning forward slowly during his explanation so the minkan backed himself off a bit.
"I'm quite fond of them."
Walter processed all that pretty well, although if he were to be completely honest, he hadn't seen such a weapon in person. "I see... Honestly, that's something that doesn't exist anymore, at least back at my dimension of birth. We usually had larger guns, usually able to boil through durable alloys," he recalled. "Revolvers were just something akin to a spear in a gunfight to us."
"That's fair I suppose, although it's my mistake I didn't mention it being a plasma based weapon, I honestly can't think of any reason why it is a revolver besides maybe nostalgia" Wyatt replied, quite enjoying all the backwards and forwards conversation with such a seemingly level headed person. "That being said, most gauss weapons are just fancy spears and some electromagnets... I have a question, did they still use something similar to the ke-m2-4's where you come from?"
"Similar, but obviously bulkier, bigger, and greater customization, on top of being designed around our unique physiology. For example, it has extra capacitors and stronger coolant system to enable more teleports. It has two nodal hard points. It also expands and contracts to fit a wider range of people. Things if that nature," Walter answered.
"I even arrived to Ayenee in one, and still have it with me, although that thing isn't even working anymore. It suffered serious damage, and given its complexity, it's been a labourous process to get it fixed... Somewhat."
"Well best of luck with that, it sounds like a handful" Wyatt spoke, recalling a particular time he had welded a sheet of duranrium onto his ke-m2-3a when it had taken heavy fire - that was a story for another time however. "It sounds like it is, or rather was, quite the bit of hardware - it's a shame we're at war with it but hey, we don't get much of a say in that department... at least you're on our side now."
The sun-eyed technician nodded respecfully. "For the time being. After I serve my years, though, I will go back to Ayenee, whether or not I have to make my own way there. And... Maybe, bring someone with me."
"A good aspiration that is, hell I plan on settling down there myself one day... get away from things and live out the rest of my days most likely in solitude but you never know" Wyatt huffed a breath out his nose as he listened to his own words and gave a small smile before continuing. "I might even grow a beard, find some clearing to build a house in."
"Yeah, I don't know about that, but I'd like to try and become either a knight, technician, or a blacksmith. Still have trouble deciding, but that uncertainty, something about it is exciting and reminiscent of adventure novels. And I don't care I'd I have to forge my way there myself, but I'm sure Star Army could arrange a personal vehicle for transport."
"Heh... Just think about it, us as knights, carrying swords." Walter smiled at the idea of a executioner sword, or maybe one of those fletched spears. Or maybe, even, weaker versions of his Star Servantines, just before he gets the chance to leave.
"Hm" Wyatt let out with some level of amusement at the engineer's musings, "Grab yourself a bastard sword and a suit of armour, find some dragon to slay and marry the princess it was protecting - you could do that or you could strike out and forge a truely epic tale in your wake, make a difference that means something... sorry I got a bit ranty there, but no doubt I'd find myself with some kind of weapon on my back, who knows what kind it will be."
"If I had a choice, I'd go for Arete over a random princess. There's definitely fame from doing so, but I could consider it no different from dating websites. You know, you find this random cute girl online, and you take a risk by setting up a date with her, even if you know that it's possible she isn't anything like her profile? Kinda like that, but with the extra hoop of there being a dragon between you and her bed, so to speak." Walter had thought of it for a few years now, and he concluded he'd rather stick to civilian life if he had the opportunity.
"... That, and I've already put dedication into winning her heart. Arete's, I mean."
"It's probably not hard to imagine but I've never really been on that train of thought, I mean there is always that chance but I don't see anything changing soon" Wyatt said in a somewhat solemn and distant tone before he seemingly snapped back to his usual self. "Stick with it and I'm sure you'll get there, might just need to take that blind leap into the unknown on the way there."
"M hm, I will take better care, and... I suppose more reckless abandon," Walter chuckled, obliging to take a page from Wyatt's book. The techie took a towel off the floor, and as he got out of the bath, he wrapped the cloth around his pelvic region. "It's been a good chat, Wyatt. I need to get back to my shift, though."
Wyatt nodded and craned his neck back to rest his head on the side of the tub with closed eyes as Walter made his leave, "My one just ended, take care" the marksman said as he drifted down into the waters slightly.
"You as well." Walter left the onsen to get himself dressed.and ready to work. He found Wyatt to be a good man, possibly a good friend, too. Walter will wait and see.
Onsen
09:51
Walter seldom treats himself; if anything, he'd consider coming here to relax in this steamy, warm pool to be the first time he ever gave himself a rewarding experience. Of course, he recalled drinking with Alastair, laughing over the fact a Minkan like Walter himself could find alchohol too carbonated to enjoy. From there, Walter began drifting through memory lane in this relaxing public area, his comet tattoo gently glowing. Blissful and fog-headed, the engineer just looked up at the ceiling absent-mindedly, and closing his eyes.
Another form could be seen skulking through the steam-filled room as Wyatt approached a pool, unsurprisingly enough the towel-clad Marksman hadn't made his way to the onsen before - but he figured it would be a good way to help relieve the tension in his mending bones so here he was. Wyatt lowered himself into heated pool and put his towel up to the side.
The marksman closed his amber eyes and let out a long exhale as he let the feeling overtake him, they shot back open when he felt ripples coming back towards him. Wyatt's eyes fell upon Walter's floating form, much like the other people on he ship Wyatt hadn't had much interaction during the down time but Eden had told him to start changing that and who was he if not somebody who could follow orders. "That tattoo..." he began speaking, noticing the glowing patch of skin, "Does it have meaning or is it purely aesthetic?" Wyatt asked, the attempted social interaction sounded quite awkward as it left his lips but he was trying.
"Hm?" The raven-haired technician opened a sun-orange eye, looking at marksman. With both eyes open in a half-lidded expression, he glanced down at his left pec muscle, and then back to Wyatt. "Yeah, actually. Got this tattoo when I was a teen, still in my days when I was looking to get away from home. It glows in conjunction with how much blood's running through my body, making it brighter as my blood raced faster." Walter's tone as fairly neutral and well-tempered, fitting for a man who's physically strong like himself.
"I kept it around for so long because I didn't wanna give up my dream back then," Walter explained. He felt like he'll need to give Wyatt context, though, since it might not add up right for the marksman.
The aforementioned marksman's brow furrowed a little in confusion, it seemed odd to have it linked to that particular thing and Wyatt felt a little uncomfortable at the fact that two men were in an onsen together - one with blood quickly racing... somewhere in his body - but he thought it best to think about something else. "You spoke of a dream, may I ask what that dream is exactly?" he asked in response, a short and to the point question that didn't skirt around what went through his head, Wyatt scratched the light coating of coppery stubble on his own face as he did so.
"Just to break away and live my own life, rather than having my parents pigeon-hole me into being a patriotic cannonfodder." The latter of the two men didn't mind sharing with Wyatt, given how community showers were like back in Basic Training. "Granted I haven't gotten that new life I wanted, but I'm at least working to not be just another body to throw at the enemy."
Walter brushed his hair back, and sighed, his tattoo dimming further as his blood slowed down, not taking this exchange as awkwardly as Wyatt. "You're Wyatt, right?"
"Jo-" Wyatt paused and tried to adopt a less formal tone, at least it was only one vowel he slipped out this time. "Alder, Wyatt Alder... you are Walter if I'm not mistaken?" he asked in return, eye for an eye and all that.
The engineer/technician nodded. "Walter Hyde's the name. I'm a technician with good engineering experience, and the guy who carries over three thousand grenades on him," he said, chuckling and smiling softly. Being around people like this... Walter isn't a hundred percent sure, but he feels that others have molded him to be more open and relaxed.
"Right, Ayenee - those explosions that rocked the sky were you then I assume?" he asked as a show of faith, Memories of Walter from the power armour bay after they escaped washed into his mind as he put a name to the face.
"Yeah, four grenades per second's a lot when you got two of those things."
The Marksman let out a very small chuckle, he didn't doubt the engie would be good with calculations but these ones had his attention. "I can imagine, standard yield or something special?" he asked, there was a small hint of jealousy as Wyatt realised it took until Kuvexians weaponised a planet for him to fire his gun in service of the Kaiyo-ii.
"They were only fragmentation grenades," Walter said, confirming that it's the standard stuff.* "Had I actually saved on my grenades, I would have done more damage to the sky. Though I only had a little over two hundred at the time."
"Yeah, is sky even the right term for the roof of that shitshow? I hear I missed out on quite a bit once my mindy was shredded..." Wyatt's amber eyes focused on Walter's golden ones as he leant toward the other minkan a bit "What happened down there even?" he asked, genuinely curious about what it must've been like.
"Well, the moment some of you guys started leaving was the moment that everyone just froze. The only way to move was to shoot the sky, but nobody had that firepower except Mark. Aside from that, though? Hardly much of anything." After which, Walter sunk a bit deeper into the steaming pool.
"Honestly Wyatt, there was plenty of stuff I didn't like during that mission. I'd blame it more on the Chusa more than anyone, to be frank with you. I feel she'd be better as an XO more than a CO."
"I agree with that, it went sideways in a snap, not everybody is cut out for that kind of responsibility - myself included - but at least she kept going, I've known a few people who would freeze up and do nothing" Wyatt said as his eyes drifted away and rubbed his calloused hands together with a rough, sandpaper-like sound.
"I wouldn't go so far as to blame her solely, we are all a part to that mechanism - and the mission had some... rather strange things happening behind the scenes..." the marksman's voice trailed off slightly toward the end.of his response.
"Given this is a Neko that we're talking about, I find it hardly impressive," Walter chided back without thinking that over. "I fail to see her as anything beyond someone so shallow and inconsiderate."
"We can pretend that we know how we'd react to any given situation given enough hindsight, but only there in the moment is truth revealed - what's to say you or I could have done any better?" Wyatt asked, the phrasing may have been a little rough but no offense was intended. It didn't matter a few weeks ago whether or not he would be offended by the words but now Wyatt had a faint hope that the intention would be seen rather than the execution.
Walter glanced at Wyatt. "At least I wouldn't just jump to this dimension right after Mission 12, with very little consideration to those who were tied down to Ayenee in some fashion. We weren't given any notification about that."
"... Then again it hardly matters anymore, people are finding their own way to move on and forgive her for physically and mentally scarring certain individuals upon leaving to this version of Kikyo Space." Walter let out a sigh, looking back up to the ceiling. "I can't say I forgive her for that, though. I have trouble letting go of things."
Wyatt had began noticing something about the way that Walter spoke, he spoke about the system they served under almost with the distain of an outsider looking in to scrutinize - opposed to being a cog in that system. It was all probably just the minkan grasping at straws but he would be lying if he pretended it didn't pique his interest a bit.
"A slight sidenote I'll ask you to forgive me for but... where others would say home you have a colder approach when talking about this place - is Yamatai not your home?" the Joto-hei asked, leaning forward in his seat and radiating a dull sense of intrigue
The engineering technician nodded after looking back at Wyatt. "No, I'm not. I am from a entire different dimension full of Neko-Minkan supremacy. I ended up stranded on Ayenee, found work at Fort Miller, and somehow managed to get on this ship without a lot of people being made aware. Not at first, anyways, however it's hard to blend in when your dimensional double also worked on this ship prior to your enlistment."
"Hadn't I made a promise, I would have kept covering it up, whether or not it might kill me." Walter brushed his hair away from his face. He noted that he's getting better at casually bringing up his origins. "I'm from a dimension that some of this crew have already been in before."
"Uh-huh" Was Wyatt's immediate response, maybe someone else would break out in hysterical laughter or cry for some reason but no. Instead he simply said that before rolling the words around in his head a few times - between vampire Nekos, weaponized planets and Mark having some spooky shit going on with himself - it really seemed to be the most tame thing that could still be considered strange on this ship. Still though it fed into the man's pseudo-theory(more of a hunch) that the SAoY had clones of everybody running around, there were at least five known Marks and now there were two Walters - granted one of them claimed he was from a different dimension but still.
"Stepping into the boots of another is never easy..." he started speaking again, that line it home with him more than Wyatt would like to admit. "Especially when it's your own boots but I'd say you're doing a great job, we could use less sheep on this ship."
Walter had to chuckle at that; he can agree that there is definitely sheep here, but he can't truthfully say how many there actually are on this ship. "Fair, fair."
"So speak up when you see an issue, step out of line if the need arises - just don't let it become delinquency, we're not mindless drones and nor are we moody adolescents." Wyatt paused for the briefest of moments as he wondered where all this talk was coming from.
"We're soldiers, and more importantly we are people." The marksman had a slight grin on his face as what Eden had told him finally made sense. he supposed there was something to be said about caring for your crew as much as you hated your enemies.
"That is true... At least, I hope it is. I'd bet Eden would agree with you on that." After letting a moment of silence come to pass, Walter decided to change topics. The technician hadn't told anyone he had bought new custome gear, why not start now?
"Speaking of Eden, she went out with me last week to some place called 'Dawn Station'. Figured I'd be going alone because I just wanted some gauntlets, but she was looking into buying other things as well."
"Gauntlets you say? I recently got some from origin for myself, that's quite kind of her to be buying stuff for the crew" Wyatt responded with, surprised a little that they both had an interest in gauntlets.
"No no, I bought the gauntlets myself; they were cheap enough to where I can afford four pairs of them. But Eden did want to keep me company during the trip, discuss the nature of my kind, buying belts, things like that." Of course if Eden did buy him four pairs of gauntlets, that would have been great. That's more money saved, basically.
"They're basically for utility, versatility, and to be long-lasting at that. They don't have much to them aside from being able to fly, hit really hard, and work like wireless hands. I've been practicing with the gauntlets themselves, both in and out of power armor," Walter explained. "They're made for technician work, but they have good battle applications... Like long-ranged punching."
"Ah my mistake, although it would not surprise me if she had bought them"
"They sound quite handy," the marksman spoke, not even considering the fact he had just made a pun by accident. "My gauntlets hit pretty hard but the main reason I got them is for the guns I had mounted on, I assume you are familiar with the SiZi M38 special duty revolver?"
... Walter got the unintentional pun, and felt compelled to try it himself one day. "No, not at all," he replied.
A fire almost sparked up in the marksman's eyes, finally he had a chance to explain why he loved the gun so much that he had decided to start bringing three with him into battle, "Well, it's 13.5 inches and 2 pounds of anti-armour perfection wrapped up in a coat of metallic purple - it holds a special little place in my heart and has shown to be reliable time after time so... now I have two that can function just from me raising my arms to the target, no need to drop whatever other weapon I'm holding."
Wyatt realised he had been leaning forward slowly during his explanation so the minkan backed himself off a bit.
"I'm quite fond of them."
Walter processed all that pretty well, although if he were to be completely honest, he hadn't seen such a weapon in person. "I see... Honestly, that's something that doesn't exist anymore, at least back at my dimension of birth. We usually had larger guns, usually able to boil through durable alloys," he recalled. "Revolvers were just something akin to a spear in a gunfight to us."
"That's fair I suppose, although it's my mistake I didn't mention it being a plasma based weapon, I honestly can't think of any reason why it is a revolver besides maybe nostalgia" Wyatt replied, quite enjoying all the backwards and forwards conversation with such a seemingly level headed person. "That being said, most gauss weapons are just fancy spears and some electromagnets... I have a question, did they still use something similar to the ke-m2-4's where you come from?"
"Similar, but obviously bulkier, bigger, and greater customization, on top of being designed around our unique physiology. For example, it has extra capacitors and stronger coolant system to enable more teleports. It has two nodal hard points. It also expands and contracts to fit a wider range of people. Things if that nature," Walter answered.
"I even arrived to Ayenee in one, and still have it with me, although that thing isn't even working anymore. It suffered serious damage, and given its complexity, it's been a labourous process to get it fixed... Somewhat."
"Well best of luck with that, it sounds like a handful" Wyatt spoke, recalling a particular time he had welded a sheet of duranrium onto his ke-m2-3a when it had taken heavy fire - that was a story for another time however. "It sounds like it is, or rather was, quite the bit of hardware - it's a shame we're at war with it but hey, we don't get much of a say in that department... at least you're on our side now."
The sun-eyed technician nodded respecfully. "For the time being. After I serve my years, though, I will go back to Ayenee, whether or not I have to make my own way there. And... Maybe, bring someone with me."
"A good aspiration that is, hell I plan on settling down there myself one day... get away from things and live out the rest of my days most likely in solitude but you never know" Wyatt huffed a breath out his nose as he listened to his own words and gave a small smile before continuing. "I might even grow a beard, find some clearing to build a house in."
"Yeah, I don't know about that, but I'd like to try and become either a knight, technician, or a blacksmith. Still have trouble deciding, but that uncertainty, something about it is exciting and reminiscent of adventure novels. And I don't care I'd I have to forge my way there myself, but I'm sure Star Army could arrange a personal vehicle for transport."
"Heh... Just think about it, us as knights, carrying swords." Walter smiled at the idea of a executioner sword, or maybe one of those fletched spears. Or maybe, even, weaker versions of his Star Servantines, just before he gets the chance to leave.
"Hm" Wyatt let out with some level of amusement at the engineer's musings, "Grab yourself a bastard sword and a suit of armour, find some dragon to slay and marry the princess it was protecting - you could do that or you could strike out and forge a truely epic tale in your wake, make a difference that means something... sorry I got a bit ranty there, but no doubt I'd find myself with some kind of weapon on my back, who knows what kind it will be."
"If I had a choice, I'd go for Arete over a random princess. There's definitely fame from doing so, but I could consider it no different from dating websites. You know, you find this random cute girl online, and you take a risk by setting up a date with her, even if you know that it's possible she isn't anything like her profile? Kinda like that, but with the extra hoop of there being a dragon between you and her bed, so to speak." Walter had thought of it for a few years now, and he concluded he'd rather stick to civilian life if he had the opportunity.
"... That, and I've already put dedication into winning her heart. Arete's, I mean."
"It's probably not hard to imagine but I've never really been on that train of thought, I mean there is always that chance but I don't see anything changing soon" Wyatt said in a somewhat solemn and distant tone before he seemingly snapped back to his usual self. "Stick with it and I'm sure you'll get there, might just need to take that blind leap into the unknown on the way there."
"M hm, I will take better care, and... I suppose more reckless abandon," Walter chuckled, obliging to take a page from Wyatt's book. The techie took a towel off the floor, and as he got out of the bath, he wrapped the cloth around his pelvic region. "It's been a good chat, Wyatt. I need to get back to my shift, though."
Wyatt nodded and craned his neck back to rest his head on the side of the tub with closed eyes as Walter made his leave, "My one just ended, take care" the marksman said as he drifted down into the waters slightly.
"You as well." Walter left the onsen to get himself dressed.and ready to work. He found Wyatt to be a good man, possibly a good friend, too. Walter will wait and see.
